be there in five
on ao3
this work was a commission for @ladyserendipitous!!! thank you so much for commissioning me, this was so much fun, thank you for giving me the chance to write this amazing prompt and for being patient <3
also, shoutout to @sunlitshowers and @reyxa for providing encouragement and also increasingly ridiculous excuses. and thank you for @megatraven for beta-ing!
if you’re interested in commissioning me, my writing commissions are open, so please check them out!!
enjoy!
Here’s the thing: Marinette had her perfect date with Adrien.
Maybe it wasn’t perfect, but it was good and he was sweet and honestly? That was all that mattered. It was enough to get her a second date. It was enough to have fun with someone who she liked and who might one day like her back in that same way, not just in her imagination.
The problem is the second date.
Marinette has plans. She has so many plans. Lists and lists of dates she wants to go on with Adrien. Some she planned by herself, some she picked up from others, some Alya texted her at one in the morning because that’s when Alya works best.
Marinette has plans and she intends to follow through with the them.
Hawk Moth has his own plans. And those plans involve making Marinette’s life as difficult as humanly possible.
If he’s being honest, Adrien had been sort of hesitant about going out with Marinette. It wasn’t that he didn’t like her — he thinks she’s amazing; funny and smart and brave in a way that he really admires — it was more of the fact that he had never really seen her as anything more than a friend. A tentative friend, as it was.
He had still been trying to repair their relationship from the gum incident. It turns out, he didn’t have to.
So when Marinette asked him out, all blushing and stuttering as she asked if he wanted to see a movie on Saturday, he said yes. If it didn’t work out, hopefully she wouldn’t hate him and hopefully they could keep being friends.
But it had worked out. It worked out really well, actually.
Adrien hadn’t had much experience with dating, zero experience specifically, but he’s heard enough bad date stories from friends and the internet to have a pretty good idea of what constituted a bad date. And his date with Marinette wasn’t bad in any sense of the word.
At first, it was kind of awkward, which was probably expected from first dates. But then, Marinette (and Adrien, more than he was willing to admit) started to relax, and he started having fun. It was genuinely fun sitting next to her in the theater and watching the movie with her, witnessing all her reactions in real time.
As soon as the date was over, Adrien wanted to go on the next one.
He barely managed to wait until later that night to text her.
From: Adrien <3 <3 <3 To: Marinette I had a lot of fun today with you!
From: Marinette To: Adrien <3 <3 <3 I did too!!! I loved the movie it was so good
From: Adrien <3 <3 <3 To: Marinette We should do that again sometime Go out, that is
Adrien resisted the urge to throw his phone across the room and bury his face in his pillow. Marinette had taken the biggest leap, asking him out the first time, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t scary. He didn’t know why he thought she’d say no, but it was there in the back of his mind—
What if she says no?
His phone vibrated and he picked it up so fast that he dropped it on his face and Plagg laughed at him from across the room.
From: Marinette To: Adrien I would love to!!!! You choose the time and place this time :)
It took hours for Adrien to stop smiling.
Now though— now he’s just annoyed.
Ladybug sighs in frustration as she watches the rampaging akuma from the top of a building. She’s giving herself thirty seconds to find a point of weakness and then she’s just going for it.
“Alright, LB?” Chat asks, leaping up to join her on the rooftop.
“A little late, aren’t you?” she grumbles.
Chats scrunches up his nose. “I was getting ready for something. Kind of hate Hawk Moth for this,” he says, gesturing to the akuma.
Ladybug straightens and squints in the bright sunlight. “Join the club.” Akumas are almost painfully timed with her and Adrien’s dates. They’re constantly pushing dates back and she’s starting to run out of excuses for showing up late. Her and Adrien had been forced to reschedule their second date because of an akuma attack. In general, dating him has been really nice, even with the postponed dates. They spend a lot of time together just doing homework and playing video games and they go out together for lunch sometimes when Adrien doesn’t have anything to do for his father during their school break.
But none of those count as planned dates.
By the time her and Chat cleanse the akuma, it’s far too late for her and Adrien to go out.
Marinette sends him an apologetic text, just to get a similar one almost immediately. She smiles to herself and curls up on her chaise, content to text Adrien for the rest of the night.
It isn’t a date, but she can settle.
Adrien is about seventy five percent sure that Hawk Moth has something against his love life.
It had taken him and Marinette literal weeks to get to their second date and they had to postpone their third a few days because of a mix of akuma attacks and a sudden heavy workload of homework. Others he’s been awkwardly late to with stilted excuses and others have been canceled.
If they’re counting from their first date, they’ve been dating for two months
Adrien can’t lie, he’s a little bit antsy about that.
It’s not the two months thing or the commitment thing. He loves spending time and going out with Marinette and he’s a pretty hardcore romantic, so it probably wouldn’t be too out of character for him to say he’s in love with Marinette, though he’s going to hold back from saying that aloud a little while longer.
The thing that makes him nervous is how often Hawk Moth gets in the way of them spending time together.
He shouldn’t worry and he’s trying really hard not to but—
It’s one thing when it’s his schedule that’s moving around, because he can send Marinette the emails and update her from work. It’s another thing entirely with akuma attacks. He can’t be with her during akuma attacks because he has to be off and superhero-ing.
And one day, Marinette might start asking questions.
And he doesn’t have any good answers.
Adrien sprints to the café as he stuffs a protesting Plagg in his bookbag and skids around the corner. He can see Alya standing next to a table that Nino is sitting at, waving her phone in the air. Just as he’s within earshot, Marinette walks out of the café to join them.
Adrien tries to slow his walk and fix his hair as he half jogs to the table. “I’m sorry I’m late!” he says, just as Marinette does. He looks to her with wide eyes but quickly looks away before anyone can notice.
“It’s chill,” Nino says, holding up his drink.
“There was so much wind where I was,” Marinette says, pulling a ribbon out of her hair and letting a lopsided pigtail come loose. Adrien finds himself smiling as she shakes her bangs away. She runs her fingers through her bangs and smooths down her hair.
“Oh wow, same!” he says quickly. He brushes his hair out of his eyes. “Yeah, wind. Very windy.”
Alya gives him a weird look and Nino nods slowly. “Right.”
“Anyway,” Alya drawls. “I was late because of an akuma attack, but we can talk about the amazing pictures I got once we get food.”
“Sounds good,” Adrien says weakly.
Marinette nods eagerly. “Food would be good.”
“Hi!” Marinette says breathlessly as she drops down next to Adrien in the movie theater. She had texted him as she swung over, telling him that she was on her way, five minutes she swears, she was just running late. “I am so so so sorry about this.”
“It’s fine,” Adrien says with a gentle smile. He offers her the popcorn. “We planned to meet up pretty early anyway.” He raises an eyebrow at her, probably wondering why she looks like an exhausted disaster.
When Marinette meets Hawk Moth she’s going to break his nose. “Are you okay?”
She nods and tucks her hair behind her ear. “Yeah, yeah of course I am! I just— Manon.”
Adrien blinks as the lights in the theater dim. “Manon?” he whispers.
Marinette nods as she silences her phone. “Yeah, I uh— I had to take Manon on the carousel, it was urgent.” She stuffs a handful of popcorn in her mouth before she can make this any stranger. Super convincing excuse, Marinette. Good job.
Adrien looks like he wants to ask more questions, but the movie starts playing and saves Marinette’s life.
She promises herself that she’ll have a better excuse prepared next time.
Adrien swears as he dodges through the crowd. Late again.
It’s a good thing Marinette is so understanding, because this is starting to get ridiculous.
He yanks his phone out as he squeezes between two couples and opens his top conversation.
From: the hottest boy To: the chillest boy HELP
From: the chillest boy To: the hottest boy what did you do now wait a second arent you supposed to be on a date
From: the hottest boy To: the chillest boy Yeah but I got caught up with Nathalie and I can’t use her as an excuse AGAIN
From: the chillest boy To: the hottest boy yeah youve used that excuse a lot
From: the hottest boy To: the chillest boy NOT HELPFUL Can I say I was with you??? Doing…something???
From: the chillest boy To: the hottest boy sure thing bro i gotchya now get to your date!!!
Adrien takes a deep breath and shoves his phone back into his pocket.
He’s such a terrible boyfriend.
Marinette absolutely lights up when he drops down into the seat across from her in the library. She smiles like the sun and the pit in his stomach deepens. “Didn’t think you were going to make it,” she jokes.
Adrien has to stop himself from making a bitter remark about akumas and timing. “Sorry, Nino had an emergency.” The lies are just piling up. This is so many levels of a disaster.
Marinette’s eyes widen and she puts her highlighter. “Oh my god, really? What happened?”
Uh oh. Adrien shakes his head. “It was just…guy stuff.”
She furrows her eyebrows.
“We’ve got it handled,” Adrien promises, reaching across the table to squeeze Marinette’s.
She smiles weakly. “Okay, if you’re sure.”
God, he needs to buy her (and Nino) so much apology chocolate.
Marinette really hopes that Adrien thinks her tendency to be late to dates is just a fun quirk of her personality or something.
The universe has to be messing with her to make up for all the good luck she has as Ladybug— although, doesn’t she have Chat Noir to balance that out? In the end, it doesn’t really matter why the universe is screwing with her, because the fact remains that it is screwing with her. She’s been late to at least a third of her and Adrien’s dates and over five of them have been cancelled completely because akuma attacks ran long.
Marinette tries to keep her anxiety over it down, and Tikki tries to help, but it’s hard.
She loves Adrien. She loves Adrien, and if she loses him because of her double superhero life like some cliche movie, she’ll scream. And be absolutely heartbroken. And probably hate herself.
Though at the moment, she’s not sure if she can hate herself any more than she already does. She swings from building to building as fast as she can, her earrings beeping at her obnoxiously. She resists the strong urge to yank them out of her ears and throw them away.
Of course the akuma attack would be on the other side of the city. Of course reporters would grab her after Chat Noir jumped away.
Of course this would happen today.
She frantically searches her brain for any sort of mildly believable excuse as she ducks into an alleyway and detransforms. She catches her breath and cups Tikki in her hands.
“I hate my life,” she groans.
Tikki coos sympathetically before zipping into her purse and whispering, “You’re almost there, Mari! Adrien won’t be mad!”
Marinette drags her hand through her hair. “He will be eventually!” Adrien is practically perfect, but he can’t have endless patience. Eventually it will run out and they’ll be done.
It makes her sick to think about that.
“I am so sorry,” she says, pressing a kiss to Adrien’s cheek.
“Traffic?” Adrien asks.
Marinette shakes her head and then immediately regrets it, because she should’ve just agreed with that. “I, uh. Had the hiccups.”
Adrien tilts his head at her.
“It was a mess,” she says quickly. “Nothing was working but I— all good now!” she promises. “Hiccup free!” She forces a smile.
Adrien smiles down at her and she melts.
She’s going to break one day. And she’s not going to be able to keep lying to him.
“How many times do you think you can be late to a date?” Plagg asks as Adrien slides down the railing of the staircase. He doesn’t have time to run down the stairs and he’s also allowed to act like a little kid every once in a while.
“Shut up,” Adrien mutters. “I don’t think showing up to our date to a nice restuarant in my pajamas would’ve been a good idea.”
Plagg snickers. “Maybe you should sleep in dresswear.”
“Maybe you should submit a complaint with Hawk Moth.” Adrien jumps off the end of the railing and runs to the door.
“Adrien?”
He tenses and freezes with his hand on the handle of the door. He takes a steadying breath before glancing to his father. “Yes?”
Gabriel is standing in the doorway of his office, adjusting his glasses. “Aren’t you scheduled for a date with…”
“Marinette.”
“Ah yes. Miss Dupain-Cheng.” Adrien nods. Gabriel continues to watch him with a flat and unimpressed look. “Why are you still here?”
“I…” The words catch in Adrien’s throat. He had an excuse ready for Marinette, but it won’t fly with his dad. Gabriel doesn’t know that his son was out fighting an akuma in a magical skintight spandex suit. He just thinks Adrien was lazying around his room. “I lost track of time,” he says softly.
Somehow, Gabriel’s stare becomes more disapproving.
Adrien squirms under his gaze. “I-I should—”
“She won’t wait around forever,” Gabriel says, turning back to his office. He gives Adrien a once over. “She’s a smart girl, Adrien. I highly doubt she’ll put up with actions like this for long.”
Adrien chews on his bottom lip. He didn’t really need his father voicing the already incredibly loud doubts that he has. “I know. I’ll try to be better.”
“Good.” Adrien’s eyes flick to Gabriel in surprise. “Relationships require all parties to be communicating and respectful of the other. They require honesty,” Gabriel’s voice takes on a strange quality that Adrien’s not sure he’s ever heard before. It’s almost…wistful. Which doesn’t make sense, Gabriel Agreste is never wistful.
“Communication, respect, and honesty,” Adrien murmurs. Two out of three, that’s…not good enough.
“Relationships demand work,” Gabriel says, a hard edge returning to his voice. “You have to be willing to put in the time demanded.” He raises an eyebrow.
“I am!” Adrien says quickly.
“Perhaps,” Gabriel says, gesturing to a clock on the wall. “Your actions should reflect your words.”
Adrien’s eyes go wide. He is significantly later than he thought he was. Oh no.
“We’ll discuss this more tomorrow,” Gabriel says in a strangely light tone. “Enjoy yourself. Make sure Miss Dupain-Cheng gets home safely.”
Adrien is fairly sure he nods as he yanks the door open and shouts goodbye as he takes off down the street.
“Ouch,” Plagg says, popping out of his pocket. “Chewed out by the old man, that can’t feel good.”
“Shut up.” Adrien checks the street for cars quickly before crossing. “You haven’t exactly been helpful throughout this whole thing.” Plagg scoffs. “I keep telling you, cheese is easier than romance.”
Adrien rolls his eyes. He slows his walk as he approaches the restaurant. His father’s words echo in his mind and he can’t erase his expression from his brain. Adrien always knew that his mom and dad had problems before— before. But he’s never acknowledge them before. It hurt too much.
He spots Marinette as soon as he enters the restaurant. She’s sitting at a table by herself, her hair over one shoulder as she doodles on a paper napkin. She’s wearing a sundress and is literally a vision in pink and all of Adrien’s worries and anxieties are gone because he is just so in love with her.
He’s trying to get to six months before he says that out loud, but he doesn’t know if he can wait two more.
Marinette looks up and meets his eyes across the restaurant, smiling brightly.
“I’m sorry,” he says as he approaches the table. “I…” have completely forgotten the excuse. Adrien’s mind goes blank. “I was clothes shopping.”
Marinette gives him a slow once over. “Clothes shopping?”
“Yeah I…” He sits down. “Couldn’t find any clothes.”
She gives him a confused look. “What store were you shopping at?”
“I was at, uh,” the dinner of the person at the table next to him catches his eye, “soup.”
“Soup?” Marinette repeats.
Adrien hates himself. “Yup. Soup.”
She taps her pen against the table a few times. “Did you…did you just quote a meme at me?”
Memories come flooding back and Adrien has to stop himself from slamming his head against the table. “Uh I don’t know do you know what you want to eat?”
Marinette stifles a laugh. “Okay then. Not yet, I was waiting for you before I looked.”
Adrien nods a few times. “Yeah. Let’s…let’s do that.”
Marinette looks up from her notebook with a groan. “Tikki, he’s going to hate me if I’m late again.”
“He won’t hate you,” Tikki promises, patting Marinette’s cheek. “I’m sure he doesn’t even notice how often you’re late.”
Marinette gives her a distressed look before motioning down to the list in her notebook. She’s had to start writing down the excuses she uses because she doesn’t want to repeat any. They’re so out there that it wouldn’t make sense.
They start off normal (“Sorry! I was helping my dad with a cake!” and “I had to watch the bakery for a little longer than I thought.”) and then become more of a stretch (“Alya’s been obsessing over cinematographic angles lately and had me filming from a top of a building for the Ladyblog and the elevator broke and I had to walk down twenty six flights of stairs how was your day?) then slowly get…weirder.
(“My dog ate my sock.”
“Your…” Adrien furrows his eyebrows. “You don’t have a dog.”
“My friend’s dog ate my sock!” Marinette corrects quickly.
“Whose dog ate your sock?”
“Nino’s.”
“When did Nino get a dog?”
“He’s— it’s his cousins! Nino is dogsitting!”
Adrien blinks. “Oh, he didn’t tell me that.”
“It was super sudden! They had to leave the city for something. They’re going to be back in a few hours I think but yeah how are you?”)
Marinette sighs and shuts her notebook. A random word generator could probably come up with better excuses than she does on the fly. “Tikki, yesterday I said I was late because there was so much traffic because of the weather.”
“Oh Mari,” Tikki says sympathetically, nuzzling against Marinette’s neck.
Marinette buries her face in her hands. “It was sunny all day! What was I talking about!?”
“It’ll be okay,” Tikki promises. “Adrien likes you a lot.”
Marinette puts her head down on the desk. “Do I want him to think that I’m a flighty and oblivious mess that’s late for everything?” She groans. “Why does Hawk Moth hate my entire life.”
“I’m sure Hawk Moth doesn’t have a personal vendetta against your relationship, Marinette. It’s just very poor timing.”
“Yeah, five months of it,” Marinette grumbles.
“Exactly!” Tikki chirps. “I don’t think he’ll start getting upset now.”
“It’s a build up,” Marinette counters. “Eventually—”
“Stop thinking negatively,” Tikki interrupts. “You love Adrien and he loves you. You two will figure it out. If you’re so worried, talk to him.”
“What would I even say?” Marinette asks. “I’m really worried that you’re going to break up with me because I’m always late but I can’t stop Hawk Moth from timing his akumas very very poorly?”
“I don’t know,” Tikki admits. “But I know you, Mari, and you always figure things out in the end.” She nestles into Marinette’s hair. “You’re good at this. There’s a reason you’re Ladybug.”
Marinette sighs and puts her notebook away. “That’s the problem.”
Chat stares at Ladybug and she stares back.
“I hate him,” she says flatly, pushing sopping bangs out of her eyes.
“Yeah, he really is kind of the worst.” He shakes dripping hair out of his eyes. “Isn’t lucky charm supposed to put everything back?”
“Apparently that doesn’t count for water,” Ladybug grumbles. She wrings out a pigtail.
Chat’s ring beeps it’s warning. He’s already late as is, he really shouldn’t have wasted time making small talk with Ladybug. “I have to go,” he says, gesturing vaguely over his shoulder.
She gives him a weak smile. “Get dry, kitty. I’ll see you on patrol.”
Chat salutes before he leaps off, detransforming in an alleyway and finding his civilian clothing just as drenched as his suit was. Adrien glares at Plagg. “You know, sometimes your magic really sucks.”
Plagg shrugs. “I don’t make the rules, lover boy. You’re going to have to either cancel your date or go home to dry off and be even later.”
Adrien checks his phone, which is thankfully still working despite the fact that it’s in a wet pocket. He’s just as late as he thought he’d be. A new message pops up on his screen from Marinette.
From: Mari ❤️❤️ To: sunshine <3 Im on my way!!!! SOrry about htat Ill explain when I get there!!
He smiles beside himself.
“I’ll make something up,” he says to Plagg. “Say I fell in the river or something. I don’t want to keep her waiting any longer that I have to.”
“Ridiculous,” Plagg grumbles.
Adrien’s sneakers squish uncomfortably as he hurries to where him and Marinette planned to meet in the park. He gets a few strange looks, but mostly people ignore him and avoid brushing against him.
He runs up to the bench just as Marinette is walking up to it.
They stare at each other in for a long moment.
Marinette’s hair is falling out and dripping steadily on the ground. Her clothes are soaked and sticking to her skin. She looks like she just took a swim fully dressed. Adrien is overly aware of the fact that he looks exactly the same.
What a couple they make.
“I had to—”
“There was—”
They both stop and stare at each other.
“Uh…” Adrien rubs the back of his neck. “You first.”
Marinette exhales sharply and flicks her bangs out of her eyes. “Chloé pushed me into the Seine.”
Adrien stares at her. “She— what? Why?”
Marinette throws her hands in the air. “Ask Chloé!”
Adrien gapes for a minute, scrambling for any sort of excuse. All the ones he’s used in the past run through his mind. All of the lame ones, the ones that made no sense, the ones that make him seem like a massive jerk. Every lie he’s ever told Marinette. All these lies, all these canceled dates, all the times he’s shown up late— all of everything and she’s still here. She’s here, she’s soaking wet, and she still loves him.
Adrien steps forward and cups Marinette’s face in his hands and kisses her hard. Her skin is cool and her hair wet and he never really thought they’d be kissing in a park, dripping wet in the sunshine, but here they are, doing precisely that. It’s a little strange, but he will never get sick of kissing Marinette.
He pulls away and stares into her eyes. “I love you,” he says. They’re still nineteen days away from six months, but he’s sick of waiting.
Marinette blinks and gives him a small smile. “I love you too.”
Plagg is going to kill him. “I got thrown into the Seine,” Adrien admits. “In the akuma attack.”
Marinette’s eyes widen. “W-what? But I thought all the civilians—”
“Were kept back by the police,” Adrien finishes. He glances around the park to make sure no one is standing too close. “They were.”
Realization dawns on Marinette’s face.
“The akuma grabbed my tail,” he says softly, face burning because honestly, it’s kind of embarrassing, “and just flung me into the water. I usually don’t mind swimming—”
“Oh my god,” Marinette whispers.
“—but cats hate water. It was not a fun time. And then Ladybug—”
“Tried to yoyo the akuma, but it caught the string and yanked her into the water,” Marinette interrupts.
“Yeah,” Adrien says slowly. “Were you watching the attack?”
She stares at him. “I was in the water.” She pauses before reaching up and tapping one of her earrings. “With you.”
Adrien feels the blood drain from his face. “Oh my god.”
Marinette nods. “Oh my god.” Her voice wavers.
“Oh my god.”
“Oh my god.” Marinette covers her face with her hands.
Adrien grabs her by the shoulders. “Oh my god, are you crying?”
Marinette looks up at him with watery eyes and tears running down her cheeks. She laughs. “It’s you?”
“Oh my god,” Adrien whispers, before pulling her into a tight hug. It’s a little uncomfortable because they’re both still soaking wet, but he doesn’t want to let her go.
“I was so scared,” Marinette whispers. “I kept making up these terrible excuses and I thought you were going to break up with me because of them.”
Adrien forces a laugh and pulls away, taking her hand and squeezing it tightly. “Honestly, I was so wrapped up in my own terrible excuses that I didn’t even notice yours.”
Marinette sighs and rest her forehead against Adrien’s chest. “I’m just so relieved it’s you.”
Adrien hums in agreement. “No more ridiculous lies.”
Marinette looks up at him. “Can we maybe just…skip the date today? Go back to yours and get dry clothes on and watch movies or something?”
Adrien wraps an arm around her and turns them toward his house. “That, my lady, sounds perfect.”
